Whenever we venture into doing something new, we often don’t know what questions to ask to find out more about it. And when we’ve got around to asking the questions, we’re often unsure if the responses we get back are ‘good’ or ‘bad’. This lack of ‘knowing’ can lead to indecision and great uncertainty. How do we know if we’ve made the right decisions? How can we convey confidence to others if we’re not confident in ourselves? e-Invoicing is a topic which engenders huge uncertainty. Questions like “Which questions should I ask to tell one provider from the other?” and “How would their solution impact my business case?” come up constantly. In this insightful presentation you will be shown 7 areas of e-invoicing to get familiar with. You will be shown: • Why they are important • The impact on your business • How to build them into your search plan for a partner • What to do with the responses to your questions

1. Presented by:

2. Presenting your speaker
Susie West
Founder and CEO
sharedserviceslink.com

3. Questions
• Send me your question early
• Use this opportunity to get the answers/info you seek
• The sooner you send me the question, the more likely it will
be asked
• Remember to stay on for Q&A in the last 10 minutes of the
show

4. Intention of session
• What questions do you ask to tell the difference?
• What do you do with the information you get back?
• What are the 7 truths to getting this bit of the process
right?

6. When is the right time for e-invoicing?
• How many invoices do you process?
• What is your first time match rate?
• What percentage of your invoices are centralised?
• What would you do with the e-invoice on receipt?

8. Understanding your requirements
• As is process mapping will determine where your shortfalls
are
• Functional requirements
• Country requirements
• Business requirements

9. Understanding your requirements
• Functional requirements:
• End to end or single step?
• What solutions are already in place?
• What ERP do you use?
• What do you want your e-invoicing solution to do?
• Supplier portal functionality
• DD/SCF?
• Other TXNs?

10. Understanding your requirements
• Country requirements:
• VAT requirements
• Language requirements

11. Understanding your requirements
• Business requirements:
• Business case
• Up front commitment
• ROI
• Guarantee
• Resource requirements
• Relationship with your suppliers and supplier
landscape

15. Reviewing the market
• There are over 400 vendors saying they do e-invoicing
• What are the questions you ask to tell them apart?
• Why does this matter?
• Vital to have done the work talked about till now before
you start reviewing the market

16. Introduced by:

17. How to tell the difference between
service providers
1. Supplier onboarding
2. VAT status
3. Open vs closed
4. Technology
5. Financials
6. Commercials
7. Project management
8. Resource planning
9. Already connected?
10. Referencibility

18. How to tell the difference between
providers
Supplier onboarding
How do you enrol suppliers? 1. Clean database
2. Write letter
3. Chase letter
4. Sign them up
5. Technically set them up
6. Work with Procurement to deal with
the non-compliant
How many FTEs in your organisation are High
involved in supplier onboarding?
Can we come and see them? Sure – come and spend an afternoon with
them
How many of my suppliers do you already
have connected?
Can we meet our programme manager?

19. How to tell the difference between
providers
VAT status
Which countries are you legally
transacting e-invoices without the need
for a paper back up?
How are you complying with local law in
terms of archiving?
Who do you work with to secure
compliance?
Which client has the same footprint as us
and that we can speak to?

20. How to tell the difference between
providers
Open vs closed
Do you proactively go out and seek inter-
operability with other SPs?
If an SP approaches you to interconnect,
what is your stance?
How much of your invoice volume comes
from other SPs?

21. How to tell the difference between
providers
Technology
Do you take any file format or many file 1. How many formats do you have on
formats? the system?
2. Do you have a mapping engine
Is there software involved?
What is the solution for large and small
suppliers?
What further technology functionality do
you have?
How do you integrate with your ERP?

22. How to tell the difference between
providers
Financials
How financially stable are you? Money in the bank
Investors
Forecast
If you stopped doing business now how
long could you last with your cash
reserves?
What are your future plans? You will be locked in
Who are your key investors?
What $ comes just from your e-invoicing
business?

23. How to tell the difference between
providers
Commercials
How will you charge the buyer? Term of contract
Transaction/set up?
Extras?
How will you charge the supplier? Term of contract
Transaction/set up?
Extras?
What other costs are there hidden and
declared?
To set up a supplier, and it’s many to Important
many, what fees will a supplier be
charged?

24. How to tell the difference between
providers
Project management
How will this project be managed?
Can I meet my Project Manager? Do you connect with them?
What kind of a person are they?
Can you lock them into the contract?
What does support look like when you are How important will you be once your large
operational? suppliers are live?

25. How to tell the difference between
providers
Resource planning
How many accounts do you win each
month?
How are these resource planned for?
How many people will be working on our
account?
What will happen in 3 months when more
accounts have been closed?

26. How to tell the difference between
providers
Already connected
How many of our suppliers are already
connected?
What does ‘connected’ mean?
How does this translate into invoice
volume?
What does implementation look like for
these connected suppliers?
What does this connected volume mean
to our business case and commercials?

27. How to tell the difference between
providers
Referencibility
How many clients do you have in our
industry?
How many SAP/Oracle clients do you
have?
Which clients have rolled out in our
countries?
How many clients are fully deployed?

29. How to weight reponses
Commercials
Supplier onboarding 15%
VAT Status 15%
Technology 10%
Commercials 10%
Open vs closed 5%
Financials 10%
Referencibility 10%
Project management 5%
Resource planning 10%
Already connected? 10%

33. The 7 truths
1. Don’t work on this alone – importance of procurement
2. Build a business case with head count savings and DD
3. Expect to pay for the service
4. Remember SPs have sales targets and quarters, so use
the ‘end of the quarter’ to get a preferable deal
5. Lock in the programme manager if you like them – they
are key and know that your competing against other
signed clients
6. Plan the implementation resource and schedule a kick off
early
7. Use your SP’s contract

35. And if you don’t?
The 7 truths And if you don’t follow the truths…
Don’t work on this alone – importance of Conversion rates will be low
procurement
Build a business case with head count savings The business case will look a lot less exciting
and DD and you will be missing a huge opportunity
Expect to pay for the service ‘Free’ does not necessarily = ‘high value’ on the
Buyer side. If it’s free are you really taking this
seriously? Will it be more successful if it’s free?
Remember SPs have sales targets and You’ll weaken your negotiation position
quarters, so use the ‘end of the quarter’ to get a
preferable deal
Lock in the programme manager if you like You may get down-graded and your
them – they are key and know that your programme may lose momentum
competing against other signed clients
Plan the implementation resource and schedule Not taking this programme seriously will lead to
a kick off early – you will need a lot of poor conversion
procurement there
Use your SP’s contract Your procurement and legal teams will spend
money on drafting something that already exists
and delay your kick off date

36. Find out more at…

37. Introduced by:

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